Winlink 2000 Digital Messaging for EmComm Huntsville Hamfest, August 19, 2006

1
Winlink 2000Digital Messaging for
EmCommHuntsville Hamfest, August 19, 2006

• By
• Steve Waterman, K4CJX
• Winlink 2000 Network Administrator,
• Winlink 2000 Development Team
• William Jorgensen, KG4VKG
• Director, Department of Emergency Communications
• Williamson County, TN

2
Winlink 2000Digital Messaging for
EmCommHuntsville Hamfest, August 19, 2006
Our primary mission is to provide Global digital
communications for the benefit, safety and
well-being of our user communities, anywhere at
anytime.

• By
• Steve Waterman, K4CJX
• Winlink 2000 Network Administrator,
• Winlink 2000 Development Team
• William Jorgenson, KG4VKG
• Director, Department of Emergency Communications
• Williamson County, TN

Friend Ships
International Boat Watch Network
3
Winlink 2000 Today by the numbers

• Over 99 system availability since Nov, 1999.
• 3 Full-time, Redundant, Mirror image, Common
  Message Servers (CMS) in Detroit, San Diego and
  Perth, all in hardened sites, providing excellent
  reliability, worldwide. More coming!
• 91 total PMBOs, worldwide, in 3 Service Classes.
  Public EmComm Amateur, Army MARS, and UK Cadet
  Forces maintain separate service classes for
  their own operation. More EmComm Classes coming!
• Approximately 10,000 Weekly Radio users
  communicating with over 98,000 Email recipients,
  pushing an average of 150,000 messages or 280,000
  minutes, monthly, with an average duration of 3.4
  Minutes at 3,600 bytes/per message. The average
  time from message origination to pickup for
  delivery is approximately 3.5 minutes, regardless
  of distance.
• In the EmComm Amateur service class, there are
  315 Active VHF/UHF TelPac Gateways.
• In the Army MARS service class, There are 11 HF
  PMBOs serving DHS, NORTHCOM, etc. (6 Months old
  and growing fast)!

4
Written documents impose their own kind of
disciplineAlbert Einstein
Growth of the Winlink 2000 system is attributed
to the change in the way people now communicate.
Consistency
Record tracking
Accuracy
I cant work without e-mail!
5
Why Winlink 2000 is used for EmComm.

• Uses e-mail, the Worlds standard for written
  communications.
• Provides last Mile local radio digital
  messaging directly for served agencies, using
  existing e-mail programs, on existing computers,
  with no additional invasive softwareseamlessly
  and transparently.
• Provides wide area coverage from inside a
  disaster area without the Internet, and with a
  minimum amount of additional client hardware or
  software.
• Has a proven record of reliability, and continues
  to be responsive to the needs of its user
  communities.

Although Winlink 2000 has proven itself to be
attractive to the agencies we wish to serve, like
anything else, it must first be sold to those who
will benefit by its use.
6
Benefit your Served Agencies with an additional
value-added service Remember, Its their party,
and we just want be invited

• Become NIMS Compliant!
• Offer emergency de facto e-mail directly from
  their agency office desktops to multiple
  recipients until normal service is restored.
• Offer Hubbing of email between agencies/users.
• Alleviate the need for an on-site Control
  Operator. Use your staff elsewhere. FCC Part
  97.219(c)
• Offer e-mail for shelter sites and other
  temporary area locations.
• Depending on where you live, offer out-of-area
  EmComm e-mail.
• Offer a simple no stress learning curve for
  agency users.
• How can this be done? Lets look at the WL2K
  Worldwide Network support structure

7
Amateur Service Public PMBOs
8
Nearby Amateur Service EmComm PMBOs
9
Nearby Amateur Service Telpac VHF/UHF Packet
Gateways
10
Army MARS EmComm PMBOs
11
Position Reporting by End-Users
12
Example of an End-User Position Report
13
Example of End-User Position Reporting
14
Active Position reporting for EmComm
15
Passive Position Reporting for EmComm
2006/08/01 002502 Open... 2006/08/01 002502
WL2K-2.1.8-B2FHIMT 2006/08/01 002502 It has
been 6.1 hrs since you last connected to
K4CJX 2006/08/01 002502 PMBO K4CJX last
contacted the Central server 3 min
ago. 2006/08/01 002502 CP4PG de K4CJX QTC 0
Msgs 0 bytesgt 2006/08/01 002520
AirMail-3.2.035-B2FHIM 2006/08/01 002520
Connect mode PT3, QRG 14106.70 2006/08/01
002523 K4CJX de CP4PG (FH60aa) 2006/08/01
002523 FF 2006/08/01 002523 User bearing159
degrees, Distance4058 Sm 2006/08/01 002524
59.6 Mins left CP4PG de K4CJX SK 2006/08/01
002524 FQ 2006/08/01 002534 ...Close
16
The Real World, does it really work?
Example of agency use Hurricanes,
Typhoons The Tsunami Failure of IntelSat
804 Forest Fires (US, Australia) Humanitarian
Missions Health Mercy Missions Research
Missions Missing/distressed vessels
(continual) Agency EmComm
Friend Ships
International Boat Watch Network
17
In todays World, we cannot predict the size,
nature or location of disaster areas! We be must
prepared, Globally.
Local?
Regional?
Global?
18
The ability to go where summoned is critical.
Inside The Steve Hicks Special
Outside the Steve Hicks Special
19
The ability to go where summoned is critical.
The ability to go where summoned is critical.
Inside The Steve Hicks Special
Outside the Steve Hicks Special
20
(No Transcript)
21

• A WINLINK 2000 HF LONG RANGE FIELD STATION
• You will need the following equipment
• Amateur radio High Frequency (HF) transceiver.
• Pactor capable modem Pactor II _at_ 800 bps. P3 _at_
  3600 bps. Highly recommended over Pactor 1 _at_ 200
  bps. (Example an 80 Kbyte file on Pactor 1
  approx. 80 Min, On Pactor 3, approx 7-12 min.)
• HF multi-band (mobile/portable) antenna, and an
  auto-coupler.
• Power source.
• Laptop Computer (Win 98, ME, 2000, XP) and
  Airmail for HF.

22
But what about my County?(Community agency
Focus)
The Last Mile, is an important part of
Emergency Communications A Local incident area
where conventional communications have been
disrupted or overloaded by an emergency situation.
23
Community Agency Focus the last mile.

• Obviously, if an agencys Last Mile
  Internet link is broken, e-mail cannot flow.

Critical Medical Tactical Info sent?
What the ????
What the ????
but that is not all that can happen.
24
In a 911 Center, a belly-up E-Mail Server can
be a disaster!
-----Original Message----- From Bill Jorgensen
ltTnWc-EOC1_at_Winlink.orggt Sent Friday, January
14, 2005 1630 To k4cjx_at_comcast.net Subject
WinLink2000 Steve, Winlink 2000 was installed
recently in the Williamson County Emergency
Communications Center and Outlook Express set up
on my work station desk top to access the Winlink
server. I never imagined I would be using it as
soon as I did. About two weeks ago the Williamson
County GroupWise Server encountered problems and
was off line for three hours. During this time
period the Emergency Communications Center was
without GroupWise e-mail, but in its place, I was
able to use Winlink 2000 as a backup e-mail
service until the County's was restored. Since
this time, Outlook Express icons for emergency
email have been put on all desktops in the
Emergency Communications Center, and with the
Mayor's office.. I do know the time will come
again when an incident such as a server going
down or if we lose the "last mile" of the
internet, we won't have connectivity. It is
reassuring to know we will have Winlink 2000 at
our disposal during that time of need. In the
emergency communications field every second
counts. William K. Jorgensen,
Director Williamson County Department
Of Emergency Communications
25
Winlink 2000 is an excellent vehicle for
providing Last Mile Communications where
accuracy, multiple recipients and audit trails
are critical.Lets examine the Winlink 2000
Network Topology and look at an example of a
last mile configuration.
Community Agency Focus the last mile.
26
WinLink 2000 Architecture
Winlink user
Agency or Dropkit location
HF
PMBO
Telnet Server
96 kbyte D-Star
CMS
CMS
CMS
PMBO
802.11
UHF-VHF 9.6 Bd Packet
VHf/UHF Telpac
EOC
Remote, Secure Tower Site
Internet E-mail users
27
Paclink mini E-mail Server
Served Agency LAN
Last Mile
X
Internet
SMTP e-mail Server
Firewall
E-mail now routed over Paclink through the
Winlink 2000 system 802.11, D-Star or Packet
DMZ
Possible Paclink Locations
28
The Williamson County Digital Initiative- An
Example Its not about the
equipment
29
Williamson County WL2K Network
Davidson County PMBO
City of Brentwood Power Grid/ ISP/C.O .
Williamson County Power Grid/ ISP/C.O.
Brentwood Municipal Tower Site PMBO with VHF/UHF
Telpac, D-Star
Multi-home PMBO
PMBO
802.11 Bwood LAN
2 Multi-user Dropkits with Paclink Telnet via
D-Star, VHF/UHF Packet at 9600 baud, Airmail
on HF.
City of Brentwood Municipal Bldg Paclink,
Telpac, D-Star. (Backup Standby PMBO)
802.11 Williamson Co LAN
PMBO
Williamson County EOC PMBO with D-Star, UHF
Paclink, and VHF Telpac.
Rutherford County Red Cross, Hospitals. Paclink,
Airmail VHF/UHFPactor
Wm County Med Center - Paclink/Telpac/D-Star.
9.6 bps VHF/UHF Packet
30
Bridging e-mail between LANS
Internet
City of Brentwood CO
Williamson County CO
X
T1 Backup
X
PMBO
PL
CO A
CO B
TS
PMBO
802.11, D-Star, VHF/UHF 9600 bps Packet
Williamson Co. LAN Ring
City of Brentwood LAN Ring
Served Agency LAN
31
Bridging e-mail between LANS
Internet
Williamson County CO
City of Brentwood CO
X
T1 Backup
X
PMBO
TS
CO A
CO B
PMBO
PL
802.11,D-Star, VHF/UHF 9600 bps Packet
Williamson Co. LAN Ring
City of Brentwood LAN Ring
Served Agency LAN
32
WL2K Failover options

• What if the Served Agency loses its Email Server
• 1. Use Paclinks mini e-mail server
  Telnet to Winlink at Internet Speeds over 802.11.
• What if the Served Agency Loses Internet Access?
  
• (Five levels of backup in Paclink)
• Paclink to PMBO via VHF 802.11 (Primary fixed
  Failure Mode)
• Paclink to PMBO via D-Star (Primary
  portable/mobile Failure Mode)
• Paclink to PMBO via 9600 bps VHF packet (Failure
  Mode)
• Paclink to PMBO via 9600 bps UHF packet (Failure
  Mode)
• What if the Radio Message Server (PMBO) loses
  Internet Access?
• Served Agencies can use alternate PMBO or
  hub traffic through PMBOs (Telpac collocated on
  PMBOs or use of 802.11 to Telpac)
• What if the main Radio Message Server (PMBO) goes
  down?
• Backup PMBO in Williamson County EOC, and in
  Brentwood Municipal Building.
• Airmail can link to any out-of-disaster area
  PMBO (emcomm/public/Army MARS) via HF
• What if a Common Message Server (CMS) goes down?
• Multiple redundant CMS servers operate as a
  mirror image of each other.
• PMBO can still hub traffic for Served Agencies
  and users who use the PMBO.

The level of robustness is determined by the
system design.
33

• The Williamson County Digital Initiative
• - Results -

WinlinkMayor Approval Sent 3/4/2006 65500
PM Subject Williamson County Amateur Radio
Emergency Drill Bill, Please extend my thanks
on behalf of the Williamson County, TN,
Government to the Williamson County Amateur Radio
Emergency Service Volunteers for their excellent
work this Saturday, March 4, 2006. As a part of
the drill, I am sending you this message
from the Winlink 2000 system. In addition, having
witnessed other types of communications support
as well from WCARES, it is certainly comforting
to know that our County is prepared should any
need arise for the use of these volunteers and
their communications systems. Rogers
Anderson Mayor, Williamson County, TN

(courtesy of CQ Magazine)
34
Winlink 2000 is a proven, operational,
redundant, secure, reliable worldwide Amateur
radio e-mail messaging network that is being made
available to Volunteer EmComm communities.
(However, each community of interest must put it
in place.)
35
So, Whats Next?

• Ask yourselves would your agencies have a need
  for Seamless Radio e-mail? Would end-to-end,
  transparent, de facto SMTP e-mail from community
  Served Agencies desktops Shelter/mobile
  laptops, between local or out-of-area recipients
  be a desirable tool?
• Make a yes/no decision about Winlink 2000. If
  yes, then...
• Learn to use Airmail, Telpac and Paclink.
• Deploy local Telpac gateway(s).
• Deploy mobile Paclink stations fixed Paclink on
  LANs in places where it will be used during an
  emergency.
• Build VHF/UHF links to bring it all together.
• Deploy self-powered, mobile/fixed Airmail,
  long-range HF Stations.
• Consider a non-public hubbing PMBO for your
  area.
• Meanwhile..

36
Devise a (written) Plan!

• Set up an strategy for implementation with your
  local EmComm organization, and the agencies you
  wish to serve.
• Obtain a buy-in from those Amateurs who will
  support your efforts.
• Provide a presentation and demo for your served
  agencies.
• Obtain their buy-in on the plan.
• Identify funding from those who will benefit from
  its use.
• Write a requirements document.
• Set up a time-line for each task.
• Set up personnel responsibilities with
  Time-lines!
• Coordinate efforts with the Winlink Dev. Team and
  your own group..
• Ask other communities already using WL2K for
  assistance.
• Handle the finances. How much will it actually
  cost?
• Involve and commit the end-user. Again, they are
  the ones to benefit!
• Implement the plan in stages.
• Test it, and then test it again.
• Continue to promote your capabilities.

37
Winlink 2000 (WL2K) More info and Follow up
System Details and Downloads Winlink 2000 web
site www.winlink.org Join the 1400 member
EmComm WL2K reflector http//groups.yahoo.com/g
roup/wl2kemcomm/ Take the On-line course for
using WL2K modules for EmComm http//groups.yaho
o.com/group/LOADING_WL2K_USER_PROGRAMS/ Review
and promote the Published Information about
Winlink 2000 http//www.winlink.org/news.htm Re
view the Presentations and examples of EmComm
use http//www.winlink.org/emergency.htm
38
Any Questions?